U.S. patent number 11,238,511 [Application Number 15/575,456] was granted by the patent office on 2022-02-01 for home decor color matching.
This patent grant is currently assigned to PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.. Invention is credited to Phillip J. Behrens, Christopher Caruso, Kevan M. Farley.
United States Patent |
11,238,511 |
Caruso , et al. |
February 1, 2022 |
Home Decor color matching
Abstract
In one scenario, a computer system receives from a user an
indicator of a home decor item. The computer system identifies a
color associated with the presented home decor item, and further
determines other home decor items that have colors that coordinate
with the color of the presented home decor item. The computer
system also displays to the user images of the determined other
home decor items, receives user input selecting some of the
displayed home decor items and informs the user which of the
selected home decor items are available at the retail
establishment.
Inventors: |
Caruso; Christopher
(Pittsburgh, PA), Farley; Kevan M. (Monroeville, PA),
Behrens; Phillip J. (McDonald, PA) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
PPG Industries Ohio, Inc. |
Cleveland |
OH |
US |
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Assignee: |
PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.
(Cleveland, OH)
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Family
ID: |
1000006086630 |
Appl.
No.: |
15/575,456 |
Filed: |
May 19, 2016 |
PCT
Filed: |
May 19, 2016 |
PCT No.: |
PCT/US2016/033289 |
371(c)(1),(2),(4) Date: |
November 20, 2017 |
PCT
Pub. No.: |
WO2016/191206 |
PCT
Pub. Date: |
December 01, 2016 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20180158123 A1 |
Jun 7, 2018 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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62165792 |
May 22, 2015 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q
30/0623 (20130101); G06Q 30/0631 (20130101); G06Q
30/0621 (20130101); G06Q 30/0641 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06Q
30/06 (20120101) |
References Cited
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Primary Examiner: Kringen; Michelle T
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Frodsham; Michael J.
Claims
We claim:
1. A computerized method for identifying and selecting, for a home
project, home decor items of a retail establishment that color
coordinate, through a kiosk at a point of sale location
corresponding to the retail establishment, comprising: receiving
from a user at the kiosk, an indicator of a home decor item;
identifying, by the kiosk, at least one color associated with the
presented home decor item, wherein: the kiosk includes a digital
code scanner for reading a bar code or a QR code, and a
spectrophotometer, and the at least one color is identified by the
kiosk performing at least one of: (i) reading the bar code or QR
code, or (ii) reading spectrophotometric information from the
spectrophotometer; determining, by the kiosk, from the identified
bar code, QR code, or spectrophotometric information one or more
other home decor items that have colors that coordinate with the at
least one color of the presented home decor item; wherein at least
one of the coordinating colors (i) is a crowd sourced color
representing color input from multiple different users at multiple
other kiosks, and (ii) has been weighted over another associated
color based on a characteristic of one or more other users at
different geographic locations; displaying to the user, by the
kiosk, images of the determined one or more other home decor items;
receiving, by the kiosk, user input selecting one or more of the
displayed home decor items; sending, by the kiosk, the user input
selection to a remote crowd-sourced database hosting crowd-sourced
color and home decor item associations; informing the user, by the
kiosk, which of the selected home decor items are available at the
retail establishment.
2. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising
automatically retrieving an image and/or data corresponding to the
available selected home decor items, and displaying the retrieved
image and/or data on a kiosk display.
3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein informing the user,
by the kiosk, which of the selected home decor items are available
at the retail establishment further comprises the kiosk indicating
where to locate the available selected home decor items in the
retail establishment.
4. The computerized method of claim 3, further comprising
communicating, by the kiosk, to a retail establishment personnel to
indicate that the kiosk user is interested in locating the selected
home decor items.
5. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising
associating each home decor item available at the retail
establishment with one or more colors, the one or more colors
associated with each item corresponding to (i) a color of the
respective item and (ii) the at least one crowd-sourced color.
6. The computerized method of claim 5, wherein the one or more
colors associated with each item for color coordination are
selected from colors available from a specific paint
manufacturer.
7. The computerized method of claim 5, wherein kiosk users provide
input for identifying the one or more colors associated with
respective items for color coordination.
8. The computerized method of claim 5, wherein relationships
between paint colors and home decor items are stored in the remote
crowd-sourced database for implementation in other kiosk users'
home projects in other geographic locations.
9. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein: the remote
crowd-sourced database is accessible online by a plurality of
different kiosks; and the remote crowd-sourced database stores
information regarding selection weighting, the selection weighting
based on coordinating color or coordinating home decor selections
by other users at other locations based on the presented home decor
item.
10. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein: the indicator for
the home decor item comprises a unique identifier; and the
indicator for the home decor item is received via a
spectrophotometric read of a sample item brought from home.
11. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving from the remote crowd-sourced database an update to the
coordinating colors based on input from another user at another
kiosk; updating, by the kiosk, at least one color association with
the presented home decor item; and displaying, upon presentation by
another user of the presented home decor item, at least one
different color corresponding to the received update.
12. A system for identifying and selecting, for a home project,
home decor items of a retail establishment that color coordinate,
comprising: a computerized device for positioning at a kiosk at a
point of sale location corresponding to a retail establishment, the
computerized device comprising (i) a display, (ii) a code scanner
for scanning a barcode, QR code, or RFID, (iii) a
spectrophotometer, and (iv) an input device, the computerized
device being adapted to: receive an indicator of a home decor item
by (i) scanning a barcode, QR code, or RFID presented by the home
decor item, or by (ii) identifying spectrophotometric information
of the home decor item via the spectrophotometer, wherein the
indicator is received by the kiosk scanning a product presented by
a user; determine a color associated with the indicated home decor
item; determine one or more other home decor items that have colors
that are associated with the color of the indicated home decor
item, wherein the determination is made by retrieving a
crowd-sourced association of the one or more other home decor items
with the indicated home decor item from a remote crowd-sourced
database; display images of the one or more other home decor items
on the display, wherein at least one of the displayed other home
decor items includes a weighting indicator that indicates how many
other users select the displayed other home decor item as
coordinating with the presented product; receive user input via the
input device selecting one or more of the displayed home decor
items; and inform the user via the display which of the selected
home decor items are available at the retail establishment.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the computerized device
includes a barcode scanner and wherein the indicator of the home
decor item is a barcode.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the color associated with the
indicated home decor item is represented by a plurality of paint
swatches specific to a single paint manufacturer.
15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a remote,
crowd-sourced database that associates each home decor item in the
retail establishment with other home decor items in the retail
establishment that have colors that coordinate therewith.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the database that associates
each home decor item in the retail establishment with other home
decor items in the retail establishment that have colors that
coordinate therewith is accessible by one or more other kiosks.
17. A kiosk computer system comprising: one or more processors; a
receiving module, the receiving module receiving from a user an
indicator of a home decor item; wherein the receiving module
comprises: a (i) digital code scanner that scans a barcode, QR
code, or RFID identifiable in a product or a paint chip presented
by a user; and (ii) a spectrophotometer that identifies
spectrophotometric information in a product or a paint chip
presented by the user; a color identifying module, the color
identifying module identifying at least one color associated with
the presented home decor item; a home decor item determining
module, wherein the home decor item determining module determines
one or more other home decor items that have colors that are
associated with the at least one color of the presented home decor
item, wherein the home decor item determining module interfaces
with a remote, crowd-sourced database to determine the association
of the one or more other home decor items based on a characteristic
of one or more users of a plurality of users represented in the
crowd-sourced database; a display, wherein the display displays to
the user images of the determined one or more other home decor
items, along with a weight value corresponding to selections by one
or more users of the plurality of users; the receiving module
receiving user input selecting one or more of the displayed home
decor items; and an informing module, the informing module
informing the user which of the selected home decor items are
available at the retail establishment; wherein the display
indicates associations that are popular among other users in a
geographic region of the user.
18. The kiosk computer system of claim 17, wherein: the
characteristic of the one or more users is geographic location; and
the act of determining one or more other home decor items that have
colors that are associated with the at least one color of the
presented home decor item comprises weighting the associations
identified based on geographic locations of each user in the
plurality relative to a geographic location of the user of the
kiosk.
19. The kiosk computer system of claim 17, wherein the informing
module displays a map and directions to the specific aisle in the
retail establishment that has the selected home decor items.
20. The kiosk computer system of claim 17, wherein the kiosk is
configured to: receive from the remote crowd-sourced database an
update to one or more coordinating colors based on input from
another user at another kiosk; update, by the kiosk, at least one
color association with the presented home decor item; and display,
upon presentation by another user of the presented home decor item,
at least one different color corresponding to the received update.
Description
BACKGROUND
Many homeowners upgrade the look of their homes by doing home
projects. In a majority of these projects the homeowner paints one
or more rooms. The homeowner may have a general idea of which paint
colors to use, but often goes to a hardware or paint store to
obtain paint swatches to identify colors they may be interested in
using. These paint swatches may provide an indication of what
various paint colors look like when dry. The homeowner then takes
the paint swatches home to hold up on the wall and determine which
color(s) look best.
In conjunction with the paint, the homeowner may also want to
purchase new home decor items such as rugs, drapes, paintings,
picture frames or furniture. These home decor items, when used with
the selected paint colors, combine to form a cohesive room. In
order to make the room look properly finished, the home decor items
will need to match or complement the paint color. Indeed, if the
home decor items do not match the color of the paint, the room may
appear incoherent and off-putting.
Accordingly, homeowners want to match the colors of the home decor
items with the colors of the paint they have chosen. Properly
matching these items to a given color of paint is an arduous
process. The user must take a sample or swatch of the paint around
with them in the store and look for items that would match the
paint. This process is time and labor intensive and, if the
homeowner does not have a keen eye for color matching, may prove
fraught with error. Moreover, typical home goods stores and home
repair stores have many thousands of items located on many
different aisles throughout the store. Each of these items has its
own packaging which may further impede the homeowner in determining
which products match their chosen color(s). As such, the homeowner
has no easy and efficient way of determining which products offered
for sale in the store color coordinate with their chosen paint
color.
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention described herein is directed to identifying
and selecting, for a home project, home decor items of a retail
establishment that color coordinate, through a kiosk at a point of
sale location corresponding to the retail establishment and to
identifying and selecting, for a home project, home decor items of
a retail establishment that color coordinate. In one case, a
computer system receives from a user an indicator of a home decor
item. The computer system identifies at least one color associated
with the presented home decor item, and further determines other
home decor items that have colors that coordinate with the color of
the presented home decor item. The computer system also displays to
the user images of the determined other home decor items, receives
user input selecting some of the displayed home decor items and
informs the user which of the selected home decor items are
available at the retail establishment.
In another case, a computer system for identifying and selecting
home decor items of a retail establishment that color coordinate to
a home project is provided. The system includes a computerized
device for positioning at a kiosk at a point of sale location
corresponding to a retail establishment. The computerized device
includes a display and an input device. The computerized device is
adapted to perform the following: receive an indicator of a home
decor item, determine a color associated with the indicated home
decor item, determine other home decor items that have colors that
coordinate with the color of the indicated home decor item, display
images of the other home decor items on the display, receive user
input via the input device selecting some of the displayed home
decor items, and inform the user via the display which of the
selected home decor items are available at the retail
establishment.
In another case, a kiosk computer system is provided. The kiosk
computer system includes one or more processors, a receiving module
for receiving from a user an indicator of a home decor item, a
color identifying module for identifying a color associated with
the presented home decor item, a home decor item determining module
for determining other home decor items that have colors that
coordinate with the color of the presented home decor item, a
display for displaying to the user images of the determined other
home decor items, the receiving module receiving user input
selecting some of the displayed home decor items, and an informing
module for informing the user which of the selected home decor
items are available at the retail establishment.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a
simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed
Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features
or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it
intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the
claimed subject matter.
Additional features and advantages will be set forth in the
description which follows, and in part will be apparent to one of
ordinary skill in the art from the description, or may be learned
by the practice of the teachings herein. Features and advantages of
the present invention may be realized and obtained by means of the
instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the
appended claims. Features of the present invention will become more
fully apparent from the following description and appended
claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
To further clarify the above and other features of the present
invention, a more particular description will be rendered by
reference to the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these
drawings depict only examples of the present invention and are
therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The present
invention will be described and explained with additional
specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings
in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates a computer architecture in which the present
invention may operate including identifying and selecting, for a
home project, home decor items of a retail establishment that color
coordinate, through a kiosk at a point of sale location
corresponding to the retail establishment.
FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for identifying
and selecting, for a home project, home decor items of a retail
establishment that color coordinate, through a kiosk at a point of
sale location corresponding to the retail establishment.
FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for identifying
and selecting, for a home project, home decor items of a retail
establishment that color coordinate.
FIG. 4 illustrates a scenario in which color and home decor item
associations are crowd-sourced.
FIG. 5 illustrates a scenario of a retail establishment layout
including a paint area and kiosk.
FIG. 6 illustrates a scenario of a kiosk that includes a display
and user input devices.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention is directed to identifying and selecting, for
a home project, home decor items of a retail establishment that
color coordinate, through a kiosk at a point of sale location
corresponding to the retail establishment and to identifying and
selecting, for a home project, home decor items of a retail
establishment that color coordinate. In one example, a computer
system receives from a user an indicator of a home decor item. The
computer system identifies at least one color associated with the
presented home decor item, and further determines other home decor
items that have colors that coordinate with the color of the
presented home decor item. The computer system also displays to the
user images of the determined other home decor items, receives user
input selecting some of the displayed home decor items and informs
the user which of the selected home decor items are available at
the retail establishment.
In another example, a computer system for identifying and selecting
home decor items of a retail establishment that color coordinate to
a home project is provided. The system includes a computerized
device for positioning at a kiosk at a point of sale location
corresponding to a retail establishment. The computerized device
includes a display and an input device. The computerized device is
adapted to perform the following: receive an indicator of a home
decor item, determine a color associated with the indicated home
decor item, determine other home decor items that have colors that
coordinate with the color of the indicated home decor item, display
images of the other home decor items on the display, receive user
input via the input device selecting some of the displayed home
decor items, and inform the user via the display which of the
selected home decor items are available at the retail
establishment.
In another example, a kiosk computer system is provided. The kiosk
computer system includes one or more processors, a receiving module
for receiving from a user an indicator of a home decor item, a
color identifying module for identifying a color associated with
the presented home decor item, a home decor item determining module
for determining other home decor items that have colors that
coordinate with the color of the presented home decor item, a
display for displaying to the user images of the determined other
home decor items, the receiving module receiving user input
selecting some of the displayed home decor items, and an informing
module for informing the user which of the selected home decor
items are available at the retail establishment.
The following discussion now refers to a number of methods and
method acts that may be performed. It should be noted, that
although the method acts may be discussed in a certain order or
illustrated in a flow chart as occurring in a particular order, no
particular ordering is necessarily required unless specifically
stated, or required because an act is dependent on another act
being completed prior to the act being performed.
The present invention may implement various types of computing
systems, and may use these computing systems to perform
computerized methods. These computing systems are now increasingly
taking a wide variety of forms. Computing systems may, for example,
be handheld devices such as smartphones or feature phones,
appliances, laptop computers, wearable devices, desktop computers,
mainframes, distributed computing systems, or even devices that
have not conventionally been considered a computing system.
In this description and in the claims, the term "computing system"
is defined broadly as including any device or system (or
combination thereof) that includes at least one physical and
tangible hardware processor, and a physical and tangible hardware
or firmware memory capable of having thereon computer-executable
instructions that may be executed by the processor. A computing
system may be distributed over a network environment and may
include multiple constituent computing systems.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a kiosk computing system 101 may include
at least one processing unit 102 and memory 103. The memory 103 may
be physical system memory, which may be volatile, non-volatile, or
some combination of the two. The term "memory" may also be used
herein to refer to non-volatile mass storage such as physical
storage media or physical storage devices. If the computing system
is distributed, the processing, memory and/or storage capability
may be distributed as well.
As used herein, the term "executable module" or "executable
component" can refer to software objects, routines, or methods that
may be executed on the computing system. The different components,
modules, engines, and services described herein may be implemented
as objects or processes that execute on the computing system (e.g.,
as separate threads).
In the description that follows, the present invention is described
with reference to acts that are performed by one or more computing
systems. If such acts are implemented in software, one or more
processors of the associated computing system that performs the act
direct the operation of the computing system in response to having
executed computer-executable instructions. For example, such
computer-executable instructions may be embodied on one or more
computer-readable media or computer-readable hardware storage
devices that form a computer program product.
An example of such an operation involves the manipulation of data.
The computer-executable instructions (and the manipulated data) may
be stored in the memory 103 of the computing system 101. Kiosk
computing system 101 may also contain communication channels that
allow the computing system 101 to communicate with other message
processors over a wired or wireless network. Such communication
channels may include hardware-based receivers, transmitters or
transceivers, which are configured to receive data, transmit data
or perform both.
The present invention may comprise or utilize a special-purpose or
general-purpose computer system that includes computer hardware,
such as, for example, one or more processors and system memory, as
discussed in greater detail below. The system memory may be
included within the overall memory 103. The system memory may also
be referred to as "main memory", and includes memory locations that
are addressable by the at least one processing unit 102 over a
memory bus in which case the address location is asserted on the
memory bus itself. System memory has been traditionally volatile,
but the principles described herein also apply in circumstances in
which the system memory is partially, or even fully,
non-volatile.
The present invention also include physical and other
computer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executable
instructions and/or data structures. Such computer-readable media
can be any available media that can be accessed by a
general-purpose or special-purpose computer system.
Computer-readable media or storage devices that store
computer-executable instructions and/or data structures are
computer storage media or computer storage devices.
Computer-readable media that carry computer-executable instructions
and/or data structures are transmission media. Thus, by way of
example, and not limitation, the present invention may comprise at
least two distinctly different kinds of computer-readable media:
computer storage media and transmission media.
Computer storage media are physical hardware storage media that
store computer-executable instructions and/or data structures.
Physical hardware storage media include computer hardware, such as
RAM, ROM, EEPROM, solid state drives ("SSDs"), flash memory,
phase-change memory ("PCM"), optical disk storage, magnetic disk
storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other hardware
storage device(s) which can be used to store program code in the
form of computer-executable instructions or data structures, which
can be accessed and executed by a general-purpose or
special-purpose computer system to implement the disclosed
functionality of the present invention.
Transmission media can include a network and/or data links which
can be used to carry program code in the form of
computer-executable instructions or data structures, and which can
be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer
system. A "network" is defined as one or more data links that
enable the transport of electronic data between computer systems
and/or modules and/or other electronic devices. When information is
transferred or provided over a network or another communications
connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of
hardwired or wireless) to a computer system, the computer system
may view the connection as transmission media. Combinations of the
above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable
media.
Further, upon reaching various computer system components, program
code in the form of computer-executable instructions or data
structures can be transferred automatically from transmission media
to computer storage media (or vice versa). For example,
computer-executable instructions or data structures received over a
network or data link can be buffered in RAM within a network
interface module (e.g., a "NIC"), and then eventually transferred
to computer system RAM and/or to less volatile computer storage
media at a computer system. Thus, it should be understood that
computer storage media can be included in computer system
components that also (or even primarily) utilize transmission
media.
Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example,
instructions and data which, when executed at one or more
processors, cause a general-purpose computer system,
special-purpose computer system, or special-purpose processing
device to perform a certain function or group of functions.
Computer-executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,
intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or even
source code.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles
described herein may be practiced in network computing environments
with many types of computer system configurations, including,
personal computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, message
processors, hand-held devices, multi-processor systems,
microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network
PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobile telephones, PDAs,
tablets, pagers, routers, switches, and the like.
The present invention may also be practiced in distributed system
environments where local and remote computer systems, which are
linked (either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by
a combination of hardwired and wireless data links) through a
network, both perform tasks. As such, in a distributed system
environment, a computer system may include a plurality of
constituent computer systems. In a distributed system environment,
program modules may be located in both local and remote memory
storage devices.
Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the present
invention may be practiced in a cloud computing environment. Cloud
computing environments may be distributed, although this is not
required. When distributed, cloud computing environments may be
distributed internationally within an organization and/or have
components possessed across multiple organizations. In this
description and the following claims, "cloud computing" is defined
as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool
of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers,
storage, applications, and services). The definition of "cloud
computing" is not limited to any of the other numerous advantages
that can be obtained from such a model when properly deployed.
Still further, system architectures described herein can include a
plurality of independent components that each contribute to the
functionality of the system as a whole. This modularity allows for
increased flexibility when approaching issues of platform
scalability and, to this end, provides a variety of advantages.
System complexity and growth can be managed more easily through the
use of smaller-scale parts with limited functional scope. Platform
fault tolerance is enhanced through the use of these loosely
coupled modules. Individual components can be grown incrementally
as business needs dictate. Modular development also translates to
decreased time to market for new functionality. New functionality
can be added or subtracted without impacting the core system.
FIG. 1 illustrates a computer architecture 100 in which the present
invention may be employed. Computer architecture 100 includes kiosk
computer system 101 (or simply "kiosk 101" herein). Kiosk computer
system 101 may be any type of local or distributed computer system,
including a cloud computing system. The kiosk computer system 101
includes modules for performing a variety of different functions.
For instance, the communications module 104 may be configured to
communicate with other computing systems. The communications module
104 may include any wired or wireless communication means that can
receive and/or transmit data to or from other computing systems.
The communications module 104 may be configured to interact with
databases, mobile computing devices (such as mobile phones or
tablets), embedded or other types of computing systems.
The kiosk computer system 101 may further include a receiving
module 109. The receiving module 109 may receive input 106 from a
user 105. The input 106 may include an indicator of a home decor
item 107 (or "indicator 107" or "home decor item indicator 107"
herein), along with home decor item selections 108. The indicator
of a home decor item 107 may be any type of identifier, name,
product ID, serial number, bar code or other information that could
be used to identify a home decor item. The home decor item may be
used on a home project, such as an indoor or outdoor remodeling,
redecorating, or other type of project. Any information related to
that project may be referred to herein as "project information".
This project information may include any type of data related to a
specified home or business project. A home or business project may
include remodeling, repainting, redecorating, adding or removing
spaces or even building a new home or office.
The project information may thus include materials, timelines, home
decor objects including artwork or furniture, budget information or
any other information related to a work that is to be performed on
a house, office or other spaces including outdoor spaces.
Specifically, in some of the present invention, the project
information will be related to remodeling or redecorating projects
where a user (e.g. 105) is remodeling or redecorating one or more
rooms and is using the kiosk computer system 101 to determine a
paint color to use on the project. Indeed, in most cases, when the
user is remodeling or redecorating, the user will want to color
coordinate a paint color with other home decor items, or find home
decor items that go with selected paint colors.
The kiosk computer system 101 may thus receive user input 106 and
apply that input to a specific task. The color identifying module
111 of kiosk computer system 101 may analyze the home decor item
indicator 107 received in the user input 106. The home decor item
indicator 107 may specify one or more home decor items 114 that the
user 105 would like to implement in a home project. For example,
the user may remodel their master bedroom, and may wish to use the
indicated home decor items in that master bedroom. The color
identifying module 111 of the kiosk 101 may identify which home
decor item or items were indicated by the indicator 107, and
further identify the color (or at least one color) of those
items.
The color identifying module 111 may further identify coordinating
colors 112 that go along with the determined color of the home
decor item. For example, if a user was in a retail establishment
and brought a product up to the kiosk 101 and scanned a barcode of
that product as an indicator of which item it was, the color
identifying module 111 would identify the color of the indicated
product and would also identify one or more complementary colors
that go along with that color. The coordinating color(s) 112 may be
the same color, a similar color, or a corresponding, matching or
complementary color. The colors may be identified from a predefined
color palette, or may be identified or selected from another color
source. The color identifying module 111 may also implement user
feedback to identify an appropriate matching or complementary
color.
The home decor item determining module 113 of kiosk computer system
101 may then identify one or more home decor items 114 that have a
coordinating color 112. The identified home decor items may be
colored entirely in the coordinating color, or may only have a
portion that is colored with a coordinating color 112. The items
that are identified may be those items that are currently in stock
at the retail establishment, or may be items that are available in
neighboring stores and/or online. The kiosk computer system 101 may
be linked (e.g. via communications module 104) to, or may otherwise
have access to, product information for a given store.
The kiosk computer system 101 may thus be aware of which products
are offered for sale at a given store, and may further be aware of
which products are currently in stock at that store (or at other
neighboring stores). The home decor item determining module 113 may
thus be configured to identify home decor items 114 that are
currently in stock at a certain store, are in stock at a
neighboring store, or which could be purchased at the store's
website or through other channels.
The home decor items 114 may be any type of material or product
that is usable in a home project. For instance, the materials may
include paints or stains, wallpaper, baseboards, carpeting, wood
flooring, curtains, ceramic tile, cupboards, countertops,
appliances, faucets, pillows, artwork or any other type of material
or item that may be used in a home project. In some cases, project
information related to the user's home project may be provided. The
project information may include an indication of a layout for some
or all of the project materials. Thus, if the project is a kitchen
remodel, the user 105 may provide some indication of how the
materials are to be spaced or laid out in a given room. This layout
information may assist the home decor item determining module 113
in determining what type of project the user is attempting and
which home decor items would go with that project type. The kiosk
computer system 101 may also be configured to display a
specification sheet for one or more of the home decor items. The
specification sheet may show the home decor item's dimensions,
materials and other associated information.
Once the home decor item determining module 113 has identified one
or more home decor items 114 that go with a specific home project,
or at least color coordinate with a provide product, the identified
home decor items may be displayed in the kiosk display 115. The
informing module 116 may be configured to communicate with store
computer systems or cloud-based computer systems to determine which
items are in stock at that store. If the items are in stock at the
store in which the kiosk is located, the informing module 116 may
provide an indication of which home decor items are currently
available 117 at the store.
If the user provides a selection input 108 indicating that they
have selected a home decor item and wish to locate it and/or
purchase it, the kiosk may make an association between the home
decor item indicator 107 of the item that is to be matched and the
home decor item that was determined to match the first item, and
that was ultimately selected by the user as an item of interest.
These color and home decor item associations may be made by
different users many times each day. Each of these associations 119
may be stored in a database 118. In this manner, many different
kiosk users may crowd-source correlations or associations between
colors and home decor items, and correlations between home decor
items and home decor items identified by color. These concepts will
be explained further below with regard to methods 200 and 300 of
FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively.
In view of the systems and architectures described above,
methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the
disclosed subject matter will be better appreciated with reference
to the flow charts of FIGS. 2 and 3. For purposes of simplicity of
explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series
of blocks. However, it should be understood and appreciated that
the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the
blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or
concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described
herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to
implement the methodologies described hereinafter.
FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method 200 for identifying and
selecting, for a home project, home decor items of a retail
establishment that color coordinate, through a kiosk at a point of
sale location corresponding to the retail establishment. The method
200 will now be described with frequent reference to the components
and data of environment 100. It should be noted that, while method
200 is described in the context of a kiosk computer system, it will
be understood that method 200 may be carried out on a website,
where a user accesses the website from a remote or home computer.
The website may provide the same functionality as the kiosk
computer system 101. After using the website, the user can then go
to a store that has a kiosk and pull up his or her project at the
kiosk and download the information from an associated portfolio
that is stored in the cloud.
Method 200 includes receiving from a user at the kiosk, an
indicator of a home decor item (210). For example, receiving module
109 may receive input 106 from user 105. The input 106 may include
a home decor item indicator 107. The indicator may be a name or
other identifier such as a serial number or stock keeping unit
(SKU). Alternatively, the indicator for the home decor item 107 may
be a unique identifier such as a barcode, quick response (QR) code,
a radio frequency identifier (RFID) or other type of identifier.
The indicator 107 may be anything that could be used to identify a
given product such as a home decor item or material. The indicator
may be an image of a product, perhaps transferred wirelessly from a
user's mobile device to the kiosk (e.g. via Bluetooth or Wifi) or
may even be a spectrophotometric read of a sample item brought by
the user from home.
Method 200 further includes identifying, by the kiosk, at least one
color associated with the presented home decor item (220), and
determining, by the kiosk, one or more other home decor items that
have colors that coordinate with the at least one color of the
presented home decor item (230). The color identifying module 111
may identify the color of (or one of the colors of) the identified
home decor item, and may further identify one or more colors that
coordinate with the color (or one of the colors of) the home decor
item. Once the coordinating colors 112 have been identified, the
home decor item determining module 113 may identify which home
decor items 114 match or color coordinate with the indicated home
decor item 107. The identified items 114 may include those products
that are in stock and available for purchase at the store, or may
include items that are available in neighboring stores or
online.
Method 200 next includes displaying to the user, by the kiosk,
images of the determined one or more other home decor items (240),
receiving, by the kiosk, user input selecting one or more of the
displayed home decor items (250), and informing the user, by the
kiosk, which of the selected home decor items are available at the
retail establishment (260). The home decor items 114 identified by
module 113 may be displayed in kiosk display 115. When displayed,
the user 105 may view the items and select which ones they are
interested in. The selection input 108 may be received by the
receiving module 109 and may be passed to the informing module 116.
The informing module 116 of the kiosk computer system 101 may be
configured to inform the user as to which of the selected items is
available at the store or are available online for shipment to the
user.
In some cases, informing the user which of the selected home decor
items are available at the retail establishment further includes
indicating where to locate the available selected home decor items
in the retail establishment. As shown in FIG. 5, retail
establishment 501 may include multiple different areas including a
checkout area 502, various aisles of goods 503 and a paint area 504
(among other areas not shown). The retail establishment may be a
hardware store or home goods store or other type of retail
establishment. The paint area 504 may be where the kiosk computer
system 505 (e.g. kiosk 101 from FIG. 1) is located. The kiosk may
include a display 506 and various user interface means 507
including a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen or other user interface
hardware. The user 508 may use the kiosk 505 to perform various
functions including identifying home decor items that match a
specified home decor item or paint color.
One example of a kiosk is shown in FIG. 6. The kiosk 601 includes a
display 602 that displays various project-related items. These
items may include, among other things, directions 606 to an item's
location within the retail establishment 501. The directions may
include an aisle number, a map showing where the specified aisle is
located, a video showing directions to the product, or other ways
of locating the selected product(s) such as a pin on a digital
map.
The kiosk 601 may further display paint colors 604 which may be a
color for which color coordinating home decor items are to be
found. The kiosk 601 may also display home decor items 605. These
may be the home decor items 114 that were identified by the product
identifying module as being color coordinated with the identified
color 112. The kiosk 601 may also include a code scanner 607
capable of scanning bar codes, QR codes or other types of codes.
Using the code scanner, the user may input project information, or
may provide indications of products which the user would like to
use in their project (e.g. by scanning the product's bar code) and
color match to the determined color 112. These products may then be
color-matched to other products or project materials available for
sale at the store or available online.
The kiosk 601 of FIG. 6 may further include a wireless
synchronization feature 608 that allows users to upload images or
other project information to the kiosk. The user may use a
Bluetooth, WiFi or other wireless connections, for example, between
their mobile device and the kiosk 601 to transfer images or other
project information. The user may interact with the kiosk using
keyboard 610, mouse pad 611 or may interact with the display 602
directly if the display is a touchscreen. The user input devices
may allow the user to change settings, make selections, establish a
link to a mobile device, scan codes or perform other tasks
including requesting assistance. The kiosk 601 may display a
request assistance 609 that, when selected, allows the kiosk user
to request that a store personnel be notified of the user's
interest in a selected product. The user may also use the user
interface hardware to select and/or change their user profile
603.
The user profile 603 may include many different kinds of
information about the kiosk user including the user's name, current
project, past projects, color preferences or color profiles,
product or brand name preferences or other information that may be
linked to their profile including project information stored on a
cloud data store (e.g. database 118 of FIG. 1). Thus, a user may
log in at the kiosk 601 and select the user profile button 603 to
access their user profile. This profile may list items purchased in
the past, items in a wish list, items selected for a current
project (including paint colors 604 and home decor items 605) or
other project information. At least some portions of the project
information may be stored in a cloud data store, and may be
accessed on demand by the kiosk 601. This project information may
be used to identify other products provided by the retail
establishment that would match or correspond to a given project
and/or color profile.
In this manner, the kiosk can identify products that are currently
in-stock and available at the retail establishment, or are
available to be shipped online. In some cases, the user may be
shown directions to the products they have selected, or they may be
guided to the location of the products by a store personnel who has
been notified of the user's interest in that product, or may notify
another entity that the selected products are to be automatically
retrieved and given to the user. In other cases, a user may select
a paint color and/or one or more home decor items online. The user
may then be able to print out a unique barcode or quick response
(QR) code. The user can then take that printed barcode or QR code
to the kiosk at the store where their project could be accessed
(using the code) for further editing. Additionally or
alternatively, the kiosk may access the user's project, identify
the associated products, and point the user to those products or to
a store assistant who could help the user find the products.
Returning to FIG. 1, in some cases, the kiosk computer system 101
may be configured to automatically retrieve an image and/or other
data corresponding to the available selected home decor items 117.
The retrieved image and/or data may then be displayed on kiosk
display 115. The image may depict how the product appears with or
without its packaging, and may further indicate that the product is
available in a variety of colors, and may show those colors next to
the product or may show actual pictures of the product in each
color. The information displayed alongside the product may provide
details about the product such as size, price, reviews, location in
the store or other data.
Some or all of the home decor items available at the retail
establishment may be associated with one or more colors. The colors
associated with each item may correspond to (i) a color of the
respective item and (ii) one or more colors that color coordinate
with the color of the respective item. Users at different kiosks
may make associations between home decor items and paint colors and
between home decor items and other color coordinated home decor
items. For instance, the associations may indicate that certain
pillows go well with certain lamps or curtains or carpet, or that
certain paint colors go well with certain kitchen items.
Many kiosks installed in a variety of different locations
countrywide may receive user inputs, and each user's inputs may be
monitored and tracked. The associations they make between products
and colors, and between products and other products may be
identified and categorized over time. These learned associations
may be used to suggest products, paint colors, home decor items or
even other home projects to users, based on what kiosks in that
area or other areas have learned about users in that area or about
kiosk users in general.
In one example, a kiosk or plurality of kiosks may provide color
and home decor item associations to a central repository (e.g.
database 118) which identifies trends or new associations between
products and colors or products and other products. These trends
may be confined to one geographic region, or may be countrywide or
worldwide. Thus, the kiosks may be configured to display or
otherwise suggest to the user associations that are popular in that
area or region, or are trending that day, week, month or year. The
kiosk may thus be continually updated to show the latest color
recommendations or product recommendations based on a selected
color or product. The central repository may further be configured
to store the home decor items and/or paint colors, along with the
associated trends.
As such, identifying home decor items that have colors that
coordinate with the at least one color of the presented home decor
item 107 may be based on color and home decor item relationships
119 identified by multiple other users. It should be noted that the
other users need not be kiosk users. Indeed, the database 118 may
retrieve and store color and home decor item associations from
users on web sites, from social media feeds or from any other
source of associations. If the user is presented with an available
home decor item 117 in which they are interested, they may select
that item and may further indicate (explicitly or implicitly) that
the association between paint color and product or between product
and product is a good one. In this manner, kiosk users may provide
input for identifying the colors associated with respective items
for color coordination. The colors associated with each item for
color coordination may be selected from colors available from a
specific paint manufacturer, or may be available from multiple
paint manufacturers.
Any relationships between paint colors and home decor items may be
stored in the database 118 for implementation in future home
projects or in other kiosk users' home projects. The home decor
items that were selected by the user may be stored in the user's
profile, and may be used to identify specific product color
associations for that user in the future. This database of
relationships may be accessible online by different kiosks and/or
by mobile computing devices or other web-enabled devices. Thus,
multiple users may provide input indicating which products and
paint colors go together, and which products and paint colors will
look good in a certain room or for a given project. The kiosk may
then use these associations and relationships to give useful
product recommendations to other kiosk users that are looking for
home decor items.
FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method 300 for identifying and
selecting, for a home project, home decor items of a retail
establishment that color coordinate. The method 300 will now be
described with frequent reference to the components and data of
environment 100. A system may be provided that implements the
method 300. The system may include a computerized device for
positioning at a kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding to
a retail establishment, where the computerized device includes a
display and an input device. The computerized device may be
configured to perform the method 300.
Method 300 includes receiving an indicator of a home decor item
(310). For example, the receiving module 109 of kiosk computer
system 101 may receive home decor item indicator 107. As explained
above, this home decor item indicator 107 may be any type of name,
number or code that identifies a product. In some cases, as shown
in FIG. 6, the kiosk 601 may include a barcode scanner 607 which is
configured to scan the barcode of products brought to the kiosk by
the user. In such cases, the indicator of the home decor item 107
is a barcode.
Method 300 also includes identifying a color associated with the
indicated home decor item (320), determining one or more other home
decor items that have colors that coordinate with the color of the
indicated home decor item (330), and displaying images of the one
or more other home decor items on the display (340). Method 300
further includes receiving user input via the input device
selecting one or more of the displayed home decor items (350), and
informing the user via the display which of the selected home decor
items are available at the retail establishment (360).
The system that executes the method 300 may further include a
database 118 that associates each home decor item in the retail
establishment with other home decor items in the retail
establishment that have colors that coordinate therewith. In some
cases, the color and home decor item associations 119 are provided
by a single user, while in other cases, the color and home decor
item associations are provided by multiple users. In these
scenarios, the associations 119 are said to be crowd-sourced.
FIG. 4 illustrates how crowd-sourced color and home decor item
associations may be generated. The kiosk computer system 101 of
FIG. 1 may be one of many different kiosks placed across the
country and across the world. Thus, while only three kiosks are
shown in FIG. 4 (i.e. 403A, 403B and 403C), it will be understood
that substantially any number of kiosks may provide crowd-sourced
color and home decor item associations 405 (as indicated by
ellipses 401D).
Still further, it will be understood that other users such as
bloggers and social media users may add to and modify the store of
crowd-sourced color and home decor item associations 405. Each
kiosk user 401A, 401B and 401C provides input 402A, 402B and 402C,
respectively, to the kiosks. These kiosks may all be in different
physical locations. Each input provides indicators of home decor
items 107 or home decor item selections 108 that provide
relationships between products provided by the user and products
determined to color match the provided product. Each relationship
may be stored in the database 404. When multiple users make the
same association, that association may have greater weight, and may
be recommended more frequently to other users. Contrariwise, if an
association is made by relatively few users, that association may
be recommended less frequently to kiosk users.
The database itself 404 may be a local or distributed database such
as a cloud database. The database 404 may be accessible by other
kiosks or via the web or via applications running on a mobile
device. Thus, the database that associates each home decor item in
the retail establishment with other home decor items in the retail
establishment that have colors that coordinate therewith is
accessible by other kiosks and other computing devices. In this
manner, an ever-growing, continually modified store of
crowd-sourced color and home decor item associations 405 may be
maintained on the database 404. These associations may be used to
recommend products to users that would color coordinate with other
home decor items or paint colors that they have selected. In this
manner, a kiosk user may be able to quickly and easily get a good
idea of which products would match with a given product, and which
matching products are available for immediate purchase in that
store.
Accordingly, methods, systems and computer program products are
provided which identify and select, for a home project, home decor
items of a retail establishment that color coordinate, through a
kiosk at a point of sale location corresponding to the retail
establishment. Moreover, methods, systems and computer program
products are provided which identify and select, for a home
project, home decor items of a retail establishment that color
coordinate.
As used in the specification, a word appearing in the singular
encompasses its plural counterpart, and a word appearing in the
plural encompasses its singular counterpart, unless implicitly or
explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Furthermore, it is
understood that for any given component or embodiment described
herein, any of the possible candidates or alternatives listed for
that component may generally be used individually or in combination
with one another, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or
stated otherwise. Additionally, it will be understood that any list
of such candidates or alternatives is merely illustrative, not
limiting, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated
otherwise. In addition, unless otherwise indicated, numbers
expressing quantities of ingredients, constituents, reaction
conditions and so forth used in the specification and claims are to
be understood as being modified by the term "about."
Furthermore, as used in the specification and appended claims,
directional terms, such as "top," "bottom," "left," "right," "up,"
"down," "upper," "lower," "proximal," "distal" and the like are
used herein solely to indicate relative directions and are not
otherwise intended to limit the scope of the invention or
claims.
In the drawings, like numerals designate like elements.
Furthermore, multiple instances of an element may each include
separate letters appended to the element number. For example two
instances of a particular element "20" may be labeled as "20a" and
"20b". In that case, the element label may be used without an
appended letter (e.g., "20") to generally refer to every instance
of the element; while the element label will include an appended
letter (e.g., "20a") when referring to a specific instance of the
element.
The concepts and features described herein may be embodied in other
specific forms without departing from their spirit or descriptive
characteristics. The described features are to be considered in all
respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the
disclosure is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather
than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within
the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be
embraced within their scope.
* * * * *
References